Category Archives: Libertarianism

Another day, another right-wing Australian Labor Party (ALP) power broker in the dock. This time, its Adem Somyureks turn. Formerly the convener of Victorias Labor Right faction, this month he testified before the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC).

Prior to being exposed, Somyurek served in Victorian Labor premier Daniel Andrewss cabinet as the minister for small business and local government. In June this year, Somyurek resigned from the ALP after the partys federal leader, Anthony Albanese, moved to expel him. With no principles or power left to lose, Somyurek has opted for a scorched-earth strategy. Last week, he posed as an unlikely defender of democracy by pledging his upper-house vote against Daniel Andrewss controversial pandemic laws, earning praise from the right-wing Daily Mail and Murdochs Herald Sun.

The week before, Somyurek decided to lay all of his cards on the table before the IBAC. Because he knows more than perhaps anyone about the Victorian ALPs systematically corrupt practices, his testimony is a fascinating insight into Labors party machine. Its also a window into the mindset that regards this corruption as completely normal.

Somyureks self-justifications ranged from the sublimely cynical to the ridiculous. For example, he claimed that branch stacking was affirmative action by stealth for ethnic minorities. A little bit of corruption isnt corrupt, he suggested, as long as it is kept proportionate. Collecting and completing ballots en masse, Somyurek proposed, should be understood as part of an Asian collectivist ethos, opposed to Anglo-Saxon individualistic libertarianism.

As eyebrow-raising as most of Somyureks excuses for corruption were, he was right about one thing. At one point in the hearing, IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich stated that Somyurek is living proof of the consequences of being brought up over decades in this unethical culture. Somyurek agreed, before adding, The trick is not to just think its me, and Im an aberration, and Im an outlier. Im not. He was right patronage and corruption is the Labor Rights business model.

Somyurek wasnt the only one combining the responsibilities of elected office with factional maneuvering. His staff members also spent time organizing for the Right faction, also on the public payroll. While sitting in state-funded offices, Somyureks staffers ran right-wing branch meetings. While collecting state-funded salaries, they harvested ALP ballot papers from members of stacked-out branches before filling them out in bulk to secure the preselection of right-wing factional allies.

Using public funds in this way isnt a new development for Labors dominant right-wing faction. Although New South Wales Labor probably holds the distinction of being Labors most corrupt state branch, Victorian Labor is a close second.

From 2015 to 2018, the red shirts scandal dogged the Victorias branch of the ALP. The party employed part-time electorate officers, who are publicly funded and prohibited from engaging in political activities during working hours, to don red shirts and organize electoral campaigns in marginal seats. The intention was to save Labor money and allow it to spend more than Australias strict electoral finance caps. The party paid these red shirts as part-time campaigners, while their wages were topped up by their sinecure employment as electorate officers. The result was that the red shirts effectively campaigned full time on public money.

As the Victorian ombudsman Deborah Glass found in 2018, the red shirts notionally worked for MPs who had limited contact with their employees. The politicians were uniformly (and conveniently) unaware of what their paid staff actually did day to day. Following a Herald Sun investigation and a High Court appeal, the Victorian ombudsman concluded that twenty-one Labor MPs had misused $388,000 of public money. In early November, whistleblowers leaked police files revealing that the fraud squad wanted to arrest and charge up to sixteen right-wing Labor MPs. However, senior Victoria police officers intervened to prevent these arrests and ensure that the case files remained secret.

To most observers, the red shirts scheme seemed outrageous. Meanwhile, Labor Right activists could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about. For them, these kinds of practices are entirely normal.

Its not hard to understand their logic. Every member of parliament is granted funding to employ multiple full-time electoral officers, paid up to $269,631 per annum. In theory, these staff members are paid to respond to letters from constituents and to act on their complaints. In practice, very few people can name the local MP who is supposed to represent them. Fewer still would think of lodging complaints with their office.

As a result, electorate officers are free to spend their time on party activities or campaigning in elections. For upper house MPs, its even easier to use electorate officers for factional work because the upper house is elected by proportional representation, and MPs have no particular constituents. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the red shirts scandal centered on Victorias upper house.

If parliamentary staffers duties are light and largely tedious, why do these jobs exist? The answer is to maintain party machines. Faction leaders give factional activists paid jobs as parliamentary staffers both to reward service and to guarantee ongoing loyalty. In return, these staffers spend their time stacking branches and harvesting ballots, with little obligation to do real work in between. As Somyureks evidence revealed, the Labor Right depends on publicly funded, full-time organizers. Indeed, if electoral staffers change their factional alignment, they are usually sacked.

Adem Somyureks patronage network was motivated by more than just politics it was also personal. In his IBAC testimony, Somyurek admitted that he arranged to put his own son on the payroll at the electorate office of a factional ally. Allegedly, Somyurek pocketed the salary himself as payment for a debt owed by the MP to Somyurek. It was a clear-cut case of using public resources to repay a private favor.

Again, Somyurek excused this as neither curious nor unusual. He was right. If you mapped out where the children of Labor Right MPs are employed, the result would be a political dynasty more incestuous than the Habsburgs. For example, former consumer affairs minister Marlene Kairouz put her own mother and sister on the payroll. She also added the daughter and nephew of legislative council president Nazih Elasmar, as well as the husband of her colleague Kaushaliya Vaghela.

In turn, Vaghela hired MP Cesar Melhems son as an electoral officer. Meanwhile, former minister for finance Robin Scott employed Vaghelas daughter just as he had employed Vaghela before her. Its all very cozy and these practices occur at all levels of the Australian Labor Party. Right-wing federal MP Joel Fitzgibbon isnt just a coal apologist. He is also a member of the Bunyip aristocracy who inherited his seat from his father after working for six years as his dads electoral officer.

As odious as his factional activities were, Adem Somyurek is right about one thing. He isnt an aberration or an outlier. He isnt even an especially egregious crook. The Australian Labor Party is stacked to the brim with other Somyureks he was just unlucky enough to get caught.

More:
Corruption and Patronage Are the Norm in the Australian Labor Party - Jacobin magazine

Howard Stern says he "might have to run" for president in order to clean up the "mess" made by Americans who oppose COVID-19 vaccinations.

"Believe me, this here is turning into a third-world country because of the f---ing morons we have living here," Stern told listeners on his SiriusXM radio show on Tuesday, during a discussion of a staff member's trip to Panama amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's a sad commentary on my country," Stern, 67, said.

"This is my country. I've got too many morons living here. We could be past a lot of this COVID business," added Stern, a vocal proponent of vaccinations.

"You were all about freedom, until the morons got ahold of the place," co-host Robin Quivers said.

"Now I'm not into freedom," Stern replied to laughs. "I don't feel good about what's going on in my country. I might have to run just to clean this f---ing mess up."

"I could clean it up in two seconds," the famed radio personality said of a potential White House run. "Just the way [President] Biden got us out of Afghanistan that quick I'm going to clean things up. Boom. Right away."

It's not the first time that Stern, a frequent critic of former President TrumpDonald TrumpRittenhouse says Biden defamed his character when linking him to white supremacists Overnight Health Care White House touts vaccine rate for feds Trump endorses challenger to Hogan ally in Maryland governor's race MORE's coronavirus response, has bantered that he could launch a White House bid. Earlier this month, Stern said if he were to run against Trump in 2024, he would "beat his ass." The 45th commander in chief has repeatedly floated another presidential run, but has not confirmed a 2024 bid.

Stern ran as a Libertarian in New York's gubernatorial race in 1994, before dropping out after the state's Supreme Court upheld a requirement that he would have to disclose his personal finances as a political candidate.

On Tuesday's show, Stern also railed against actors who quit or lost their jobs in protest of vaccine mandates, including former "General Hospital" star Ingo Rademacher, who was reportedly axed from the soap opera for refusing to be vaccinated.

"Is he crazy?" Stern asked. "It's insanity."

View original post here:
Stern rips anti-vaxxers: 'I might have to run' just to clean up their mess - The Hill

Next years Congressional midterm elections on Nov. 8, 2022, are less than one year away. Already, 1,444 candidates have filed to run for Congress. Of those candidates, 742 are Republicans, 573 are Democrats, and 20 are Libertarians. The remaining are Green Party, independents, or other parties.

The states with the highest number of declared congressional candidates are California (141), Florida (138), and Texas (123). Delaware and Vermont are tied with the fewest declared candidates, with one each. Hawaii, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Rhode Island each have two.

On Nov. 8, 2022, 469 seats in Congress will be up for election. That total includes 34 Senate seats and all 435 House seats. The current partisan balance in the Senate is 50 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and two Independents who caucus with the Democrats. In the House, Democrats hold 221 seats, Republicans hold 213, and one seat is vacant.

As of Nov. 18, six members of the Senate and 25 members of the House have announced they are not seeking re-election.

Additional reading:

The rest is here:
Checking in on the candidates for Congress in 2022 Ballotpedia News - Ballotpedia News

Is Donald Trump a continuation of the postwar conservative movement or its executioner? A year after his electoral defeat, scholars, journalists, and pundits continue to debate the former president's place in a lineage that extends back to Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater, and beyond.

In a recent essay for The Atlantic, David Brooks makes the case that Trump broke the conservative mold. Reporting from the National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Brooks argues Trump "destroyed the Reagan Republican paradigm in 2016." He doesn't define the phrase, but "Reagan Republican" seems to mean the combination ofavuncular manners, optimistic rhetoric, and free-market policy with which Reagan is associated.

Brooks deplores that break but shares his interpretation of Reagan with many who celebrate it. Yet Reagan nostalgicswould do well to remember that he was a far more complicated politician than his popular reputation today might have you believe.

In recent years, nationalists, populists, and other dissidents on the right have attacked Reagan as, at best, a temporizer who failed to halt the country's lurch toward the left. Where Brooks sees optimistic patriotism, these critics see a soulless indifference to tradition and virtue that was unable to sustain conservative influence on the economy and culture.

But despite his reputation for laissez-faire, Reagan imposed tariffs on Japanese imports. Far from embracing moral neutrality, he made opposition to abortion a job requirement for national Republicans and directed his Justice Department to crack down on pornography. In foreign policy, Reagan deployed the Marines to Lebanon as part of an international peacekeeping force, then removed them after a car bomb killed 241 U.S. personnel. Whatever their specific merits, these decisions reflect a more politically and economically flexible approach than accountsof libertarian-dominated"fusionism"admit.

The coalition that brought Reagan to power was also more diverse than its caricature as the revenge of Goldwater. Composed partly of movement veterans, it also drew on the post-Nixon "New Right." Figures like Jerry Falwell and Richard Vigueriewere more religious, demotic, and media-savvy than most Goldwater-era conservatives. As a result, they were to mobilize larger cohorts of voters, including many who hadn't previously supported Republicans.

The replacement of the real Reagan with a two-dimensional caricatureisn't a recent development. For years, conservative institutions promoted a kind of hero-worship that obscured Reagan's contradictions and reduced his agenda to tax cuts and deregulation. Lacking personal memories of the period and reared on social media polemics rather than more judicious assessments,a new generation of conservatives is reacting against that caricature. As Brooks notes, the audience at the conference skewed very young and very online.

History doesn't repeat itself, and there are differences as well as similarities between Trump and his predecessors. But the "Reagan paradigm" that disillusioned ex-Republicans like Brooks lament and national conservatives reject is more of a retrospective construction than either want to admit. For admirers, the false memory of an immaculate Reagan is a way of ignoring currents of populist rage that have been necessary to carry conservative mandarins into positions of influence. At the same time, the myth of libertarian indifference allows critics to avoid thinking about why Reagan's legions lost many of the culture wars they fought.

Conservatives will finally be past Reagan when both factions can recognize the successes as well as the failures of his career.

Excerpt from:
The false memory of an immaculate Ronald Reagan - The Week Magazine

WELLINGTON, New Zealand Bars, restaurants and gyms can reopen in Auckland from early December but customers will be required to show proof they've been fully vaccinated, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday.

The announcement removes the last remnants of a lockdown that began in the nation's largest city in August. It also signals a new phase in New Zealand's response to the pandemic, in which people around the country will need to be fully vaccinated in order to participate in anything from getting a haircut to watching a concert.

Ardern said New Zealand would move into a new pandemic "traffic light" system based around the use of vaccine passports from late Dec. 2.

The system will mark an end to the lockdowns which New Zealand used effectively to completely eliminate virus outbreaks during the first 18 months of the pandemic, but which failed to extinguish an August outbreak of the more contagious delta variant.

Ardern last month set an ambitious target of getting 90% of all eligible people across each of 20 health districts fully vaccinated before moving to the new system.

But although the vaccination rates will fall short of that target by early December, Ardern said it is time to make the move anyway. Currently about 83% of New Zealanders age 12 and over are fully vaccinated, but the rate in some health districts is as low as 73%.

The government has faced increasingly belligerent protests against vaccination requirements and pandemic restrictions. And opinion polls show support for Ardern and her liberal government has slipped since they won a landslide election victory just over a year ago, although they remain more popular than their conservative opponents.

The current outbreak appears to have stabilized somewhat with about 200 new infections reported each day, most of them in Auckland. About 85 New Zealanders are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, and the nation has reported just 40 virus deaths from a population of 5 million since the pandemic began.

"The hard truth is that delta is here and it is not going away," Ardern said. "And while no country to date has been able to eliminate delta completely once it's arrived, New Zealand is in a better position than most to tackle it."

The traffic light system is designed to indicate where outbreaks are putting pressure on the health system. A green designation would impose few restrictions, orange would require more mask wearing and distancing, while red would limit gathering sizes even with vaccination certificates. Ardern said Auckland would initially enter the new system under a red light, while other regions would enter under red or orange.

Opposition lawmaker David Seymour, who leads the libertarian ACT Party, said the government should have reopened sooner but had been delaying in order to get its vaccine passport system operational.

Ardern had previously announced that a border around Auckland which has stopped most people from leaving the city will be removed on Dec. 15, allowing Aucklanders to travel over the Christmas holiday period but raising fears among some health experts that it will cause the virus to spread more rapidly throughout the country.

More here:
Auckland lockdown to end as New Zealand tries new virus tack - Minneapolis Star Tribune

This month, WW reported on the objections of Oregons nine Indigenous tribes to a proposal by Dutch Bros. Coffee founder Travis Boersma to install 225 betting terminals at a horse track in Grants Pass (Dutch Colonialism, Nov. 10, 2021). Oregon has historically protected the tribes exclusive claim to casinos. Gov. Kate Brown had stood by as the proposal for terminals at the Flying Lark moved forward. After WW raised questions, Brown gently urged the Oregon Racing Commission to delay approval of the machines. Heres what our readers had to say.

Allison B, via Twitter: A billionaire capitalizing on a loophole thatll harm Oregons Indigenous tribes absolutely needs to be challenged.

Jerry Channell, via Facebook: Class, Oregon style; make a little money, build a casino.

Frank Semonious, via wweek.com: Near every Dutch Bros. is a small mom and pop coffee stand that obviously needs our business more than Dutch Bros. does. (In St. Helens, Ore., its called Javalation and it is 100% better than any other place I have ever bought coffee.) They are so rich they need to build a tax shelter. Now I have two reasons to never buy their products.

mama k, via Twitter: Why does this feel like an episode of Yellowstone? Travis is the bad guy.

Kurt Chapman, via wweek.com: That some off-track betting on horse races in other locations would harm tribal take up at Seven Feathers, the nearest casino, is laughable. Canyonville is about an hour away through some pretty windy mountain pass miles. Certainly not an Uber ride away like the Ilani is to Portlandia.

Also it now appears Boersma, once the darling of progressives for his Horatio Alger rise to success, must now become reviled because he is a billionaire due to Dutch Bros. going public.

Blunt from the Bloc, via Twitter: Every day is a dystopian nightmare for Indigenous folks. Itd be cool if it wasnt like that.

Leon Trotsky, via wweek.com: Only the libertarian WW, where there are no sex or drug crimes, would think enabling exclusive gambling rights to the Tribes is a way to solve their economic woes. Its like, lets infect them with another white mans curse.

Anne J. Applegate, via wweek.com: Surely there are other ways to create income other than continuing a tradition of profiting off of the weaknesses and mental health disorders of othersregardless of race. Continuing to build more of these gambling establishments, regardless of their affiliation to native tribes or not, is irresponsible, callous, and negligent when it comes to the well-being of our future generations and all Oregonians who are currently affected.

LETTERS to the editor must include the authors street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: PO Box 10770, Portland, OR 97296. Email: mzusman@wweek.com.

More:
Readers Respond to Tribes' Objections to Dutch Bros.' Horse Racing Gamble - Willamette Week

THE RECORD 40/29 NEWS ON THE RECORD AT THE CANDIDATES INHE T 2022 RACE FOR GOVERNOR. WERE ASKINGOR F INTERVIEWS WITH ALL SIX CANDIDATES VYING FOR ARKANSASS TOP OFFICE. THEYRE HERE TO GO ON THE RECORD WITH0/ 429 NEWS AHEAD OF THE PRIMARIES ONE OF THESE CANDIDATES. MAYBE OUR NEXT GOVERN. ARE EACH WEEK WELL GO THROUGH A SERIES OF QUESTIONS GETTINGO T KNOW THE CANDIDATES PREPARING YOU FORHE T PRIMARY VOTE. THIS IS 40/29 NEWS ON THE RECORD AND TNKHA YOU SO MUCH FOR JOININGS U FOR OUR NEW PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAM 4290/ NEWS ON THE RECDOR AND YUNA LEE EVERY WEEK. WELL TALK TO NEWAKSMERS ABOUT THE ISSUES AFFECTING US HERE IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS AND THE RIVER VALLEY NEXT NOVEMBER ARKANSAS WILL G TOO THE POLLS TO CHOOSE THE STATES NEXT GOVERNOR SIX CANDIDATES HE AVDECLARED THAT THEYRE RUNNING FORHE T HIGHEST OFFICE IN 2022 THE FIRST HURDLE WINNING THE PARTY PRIMARIES NEXT SPNGRI SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS IS ALONE IN THE REPUBLICAN RACE FOR GOVEORRN THIS AFTER ATTORNEY GENERAL LESLIE RUTLEDGE EXITED THE RACE AND ENTEREDHE T CONTEST FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR ON THE DEMOCRATIC SIDE. OR ANTHONY BLAND DR. CHRIS JONES JAMES RUSSELL AND SUPA SUPERSETH MAZE ARE RUNNGNI LIBERTARIAN RICKY D

Chris Jones explains his position on the issues on 40/29 News On The Record

Updated: 12:06 PM CST Nov 22, 2021

Arkansas Democrat Chris Jones is a nuclear engineer, a Ph.D. in urban planning, and an ordained minister. He's also running for Governor of Arkansas.Jones talked with 40/29's Yuna Lea about the campaign and his position on issues facing Arkansas. The interview was broadcast on 40/29 News On The Record, which airs Sundays at 10:30 a.m.Three other Democrats besides Jones are running for governor. They are Anthony Bland, James "Rus" Russell, and Supha Xayprasith-Mays. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the only Republican running, and Ricky Dale Harrington is the only Libertarian running. William E. Gates is running as an independent candidate.

Arkansas Democrat Chris Jones is a nuclear engineer, a Ph.D. in urban planning, and an ordained minister. He's also running for Governor of Arkansas.

Jones talked with 40/29's Yuna Lea about the campaign and his position on issues facing Arkansas. The interview was broadcast on 40/29 News On The Record, which airs Sundays at 10:30 a.m.

Three other Democrats besides Jones are running for governor. They are Anthony Bland, James "Rus" Russell, and Supha Xayprasith-Mays. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the only Republican running, and Ricky Dale Harrington is the only Libertarian running. William E. Gates is running as an independent candidate.

Arkansas Democratic candidate for governor Chris Jones introduced himself and explained why he is running.

Jones talked about how important education is for children and young adults, and how Arkansas can help provide opportunity.

Jones says parents and individuals, not the government, should make personal decisions for themselves.

Jones praised current Gov. Asa Hutchinson's coding initiative, but would have done things differently when it came to handling COVID-19 if he were governor.

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Chris Jones explains his position on the issues on 40/29 News On The Record - 4029tv

*Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Ed Meek

Heather McGhee makes the argument that racism has hurt all of us and continues to harm the country as a whole. In doing so, she updates and expands on positions taken by Martin Luther King among others that the way the wealthy and powerful maintain their status is by dividing the poor, the working class and the middle class into camps at war with each other often on the basis of race. McGhee claims racism is a weapon the Republican party has used to divide us, lower taxes on the rich, and transfer wealth upward.

The Sum of UsBy Heather McGhee.Penguin.2021395 pages|$20.90.

McGhee does great research tracing the closing of public swimming pools in the US once Blacks were allowed. She travels to sites and speaks with people who were there when it happened. This movement serves as an emblem of the loss of support for community programs during the years following the 1960s when civil rights legislation was passed by Lyndon Johnson. Robert Putnam covers some of this territory in Bowling Alone.

Nonetheless, reading The Sum of Us can be frustrating since McGhee often reduces complex issues to racism. According to McGhee, whites support Republicans solely due to racism. Like the argument that Trump was elected because of racism, this is only partly true. Were Blacks who voted for Trump racist? Trump attacked Hispanics, Muslims as well as Blacks. Republicans promote libertarianism and equate the belief in it with what it means to be real Americans. This has been so effective during the pandemic it has resulted in millions of Americans reacting to vaccines and masks as an assault on their freedom. Republicans would rather risk sickness and death for themselves and the rest of us rather than go along with what Democrats recommend.

Do whites who consider themselves victims, those who think that Blacks getting Food Stamps (SNAP) are takers and moochers as Romney put it, think that way because they are racist or because they are ignorant of the facts or because they are libertarians who dont believe in government handouts? The Republican Party seems to operate in large part by playing on the fears of the uninformed. Of course, some of those elected to office (Marjorie Taylor Greene for example) seem to know as little as their constituents. On the other hand, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Mitch McConnell and Ron DeSantis know better but will apparently do whatever it takes to maintain power.

In The Sum of Us, all issues are viewed through the prism of race. McGhee says, When college meant white public colleges thrived. Government invested in college, covering much of the cost. When Blacks began attending public universities and community colleges, McGhee points out that state and federal resources dried up. Yet, contrary to what McGhee claims, it wasnt racism that was responsible for that. In the 1990s studies began coming out with evidence that college grads earned much more than high school grads. Why should we fund college if those who go will make a lot more money than those who dont? Congress asked. Instead of funding, the government would provide low interest loans to students.

As a result, colleges raised tuition to cover costs. In addition, public colleges began competing for students by building beautiful gyms and stadiums and cafeterias. New technology added more costs. Colleges with strong sports programs drew alumnae who contributed to endowments. So, colleges recruited athletes and great students who would contribute in the future. At the same time, lawsuits and a growing awareness of mental health and disabilities prompted colleges to provide support services. Finally, theres an argument that allowing students access to open-ended loans provides colleges with the opportunity to keep raising prices. All of these factors drove up the cost of college. Oh wait, did I forget about paying stars like Elizabeth Warren 400K to teach a class?

The college arms race ties into some of the advantages and drawbacks of our meritocracy. Once professional and upper middle-class parents realized the financial benefits of a college education, particularly a degree from a select institution, they began investing in their childrens future by sending them to private schools and public schools in tony suburbs with schools financed by property taxes. Private SAT tutors helped win admission and scholarships to the best colleges. When that wasnt enough, Hollywood stars and business tycoons bought admission. Under the aegis of equal opportunity, all Americans have an equal chance, but is that really fair to those without the means to compete those whites, Hispanics and Blacks who are less well off? In addition, those kids whose parents havent attended college dont necessarily know the ropes. As McGhee points out, these are problems that cross racial lines.

McGhee goes on to consider housing, the economy, our unrepresentative democracy, climate change and community. In each of these cases she does laudatory research combining facts and heartbreaking stories of the role of racism that hurts minorities primarily but working class and poor whites as well. In each case she emphasizes the role of racism often ignoring other factors. Nonetheless, she makes a strong case for the outsize role racism plays in each of these areas, especially when it comes to voting rights a compelling issue given the current attempts by Republicans to disenfranchise Black voters.

Despite my criticism, The Sum of Us is one of a number of must-read recent books about race including The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. McGhees take is unique because she has a law degree and she is an activist and a scholar. Her research in The Sum of Us brings together the role of economics and politics to use race to divide Americans into tribes caught up in a zero-sum game fighting over whats left after the top 1% take 40% of the wealth. All that money gives that elite group a lot of power to fund and influence politicians and to employ media to sway the public. Fortunately for us, there are excellent writers like Heather McGhee writing and acting in the best interests of the country.

See the article here:
'The Sum of Us' by Heather McGhee - The Somerville Times

Lonnie Barham| Guest columnist

Lonnie Barham, of Warwick,is a retired Army colonel and lifelong Republican who voted Libertarian in the last election.

Whats a middle-of-the-road American to do?On the left, the average, hard-working American sees the progressive/anarchist mob.On the right, this quietly patriotic American sees the narrow-minded Trump mob.With the two bookends growing, pushing the political middle into the most narrow slice of the electorate in decades, wheres the refuge for this weary American?

Unfortunately, this bewildered American has looked at centrist Democrats and centrist Republicans for refuge but remains adrift.Political expediency and self-preservation have caused previously centrist politicians in both parties to move toward their parties extremes.Theyve heard the mobs and they're frightened.Rather than fight for whats good for America, these so-called moderates have been cowed into silence and blackmailed by the mobs into voting with their extreme colleagues.

This exhausted American is becoming jaded.He cant pick and choose among the myriad political positions espoused by todays politicians.Some may claim to support certain middle-class values such as fiscal conservatism, support for necessary social programs, individual rightsand military strength but none of them hew closely to the range of political beliefs that define the ever-narrowing political middle ground.And none seem to embrace the Jeffersonian idea that the government that governs best, governs least.

Thus, this perplexed American may sit out the next few elections.If only there were an option on the ballot to vote none of the above.

How can this be fixed?What has to change to widen the middle of the political spectrum so that the two extremes no longer practically meet in the center?

Politicians who call themselves moderates in both parties have, in essence, become members of their parties extremes because of their silent acquiescence to the screams of the mobs and their consequent votes against whats good for America.They must somehow regain their faith in themselves and in their country and, once again, speak up for what they truly believe and vote accordingly.

This is not likely to happen on its own, however.Most politicians got to where they are because of what many Americans believe were unlawful, unethical,or mean-spirited actions theyve taken behind the scenes.For the most part, they simply arent trusted.

What two-word phrase would accelerate the growth of honesty among politicians and return to them their fealty to the best interests of America?Term limits.

If those in the U.S. House of Representative were allowed only one four-year term and U.S. senators only one eight-year term, there would be no reason for them to suppress their beliefs or to cast votes inimical to the best interests of our country.Even keeping the current term lengths but limiting representatives to three terms and senators to two, would greatly lessen the influence of the party extremes and restore backbones to our elected leaders.It would also greatly lessen the influence of money on political decisions.

Until Americans see term limits or see their elected representatives start to display through their votes loyalty to the ideals that made this country great more worn out, middle-ground voters will refrain from trudging to the polls in 2022 and 2024.Right now, theyve got no one to vote for.

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Opinion/Barham: Moderates have no one to vote for - The Providence Journal

Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk is being investigated by the Turkish government for allegations of insulting Turkeys first president and ridiculing the Turkish flag in his novel Nights of Plague, published in March.

Novelist Orhan Pamuk (AP)

Pamuk has denied the accusations.

An initial complaint was made in April by lawyer Tarcan lk, who alleged that the book incited hatred and animosity by insulting Mustafa Kemal Atatrk and ridiculing the Turkish flag. The initial complaint was dismissed due to lack of evidence, but lk appealed the decision, resulting in the current investigation.

Turkish Law 5816, passed in 1951, makes it illegal for any Turkish citizen to insult or defame the memory of Atatrk. Pamuk would face up to three years in prison if he is found guilty.

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Pamuk faced similar charges in 2005, accused of insulting Turkishness with a comment he made to a Swiss newspaper. These charges were later dropped.

The 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Pamuk, "who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures," according to the Nobel Committee.

In Nights of Plague, which I worked on for five years, there is no disrespect for the heroic founders of the nation states founded from the ashes of empires or for Atatrk, Pamuk said in a statement to Bianet. On the contrary, the novel was written with respect and admiration for these libertarian and heroic leaders.

According to PEN America, a nonprofit organization defending freedom of expression, at least 25 writers were imprisoned by the Turkish government last year, the third-highest number globally.

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Nobel Prize-winning writer may be prosecuted for crimes against the state | TheHill - The Hill